Best Adirondack books of 2012 honored

June 6, 2013

BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE - Writers, editors, publishers and book lovers gathered at the Blue Mountain Center on Sunday to hear the announcements of the Adirondack Center for Writing's annual Adirondack Literary Award winners.

The Adirondack Literary Awards celebrate and acknowledge the books that were written by Adirondack authors or published in the region in the previous year.

The winners are as follows:

Best Children's Book: "Sackets Harbor Powder Monkey: The War of 1812" by Hope Irvin Marston

Best Book of Fiction: "Far Alaska" Mason Smith

Best Memoir: "How Was I Supposed to Know? The Adventures of a Girl Whose Name Means Lost" by Lorna Lee

Best Book of Nonfiction: "Women on the Water" by Ruth Dandrea, Kathy DeLong, Carol Moseman and Bonnie Sanderson

Best Book of Poetry: "Perpetual Motion" by Marilyn McCabe

People's Choice Award: "What's an Elephant Doing in the AuSable River?!!" by George "Speedy" Arnold.

The judges were as follows:

Nonfiction and memoir: Bibi Wein and Jerry McGovern

Fiction: Ellen Rocco and Joseph Bruchac

Poetry: Stephanie Coyne-DeGhett and Stuart Bartow

Children's literature: Ellen Wilcox and Nancy Beattie.

All of the books submitted for consideration this year were on display, giving a visual sense of the scope of Adirondack literary achievements. Many of the authors had signed copies of their books for sale.

The Adirondack Center for Writing is a nonprofit organization, based in Saranac Lake, that supports the literary arts throughout the Park. It presents workshops, writing and publishing conferences, and public readings. It is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts. Members provide a great deal of the operating budget through dues and contributions.

ACW members write a biweekly column in the Enterprise about Adirondack books, titled "Read in the Blue Line."